Treatment of Inferiors
by KatherineGrace79
Summary: My response to the Sirius Challenge in The Sober Universe Forum. Harry wakes up on his second morning at the Order's Headquarters to yelling. A short one-shot on someone's flaws.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

Yelling woke Harry Potter up early on his second morning at the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. He just lay in his bed, Ron's snores louder than the raised voice that seemed so far away, and his eyes drooped, ready to fall asleep again when his mind recognised the raised voice. His eyes shot open, a blurry ceiling greeting him, and he reached out, fumbling familiarly for his glasses, which he grasped and thrust onto his nose. Mindful of not waking his best friend, he pushed his covers down his body and rolled quietly out of the comfortable warmth, his body aching pleasantly from the cleaning that Mrs Weasley had enforced upon all underage witches and wizards in the house.

Pulling on a pair of trousers, he ran his fingers through his hair, hoping to coax it into some semblance of order but he failed. There were days when the hope was there within him but his hair just refused to cooperate. He didn't really expect much. Opening the bedroom door quietly, he slipped out of his shared room and moved towards the banister, which was so clean he could see his tired face in it. He gripped it with his hands whilst leaning over the barrier. He could just see through the open door below him, into the drawing room that they had been cleaning out yesterday.

His Godfather was in there, a look of rage upon his face, as he wrestled an artefact from his house-elf's hands. Kreacher freaked Harry out. Admittedly, he had only met two house-elves before and both were a little out of the ordinary. Dobby, who accepted payment, wore clothes and was a general oddball and Winky, who was now a butterbeer drinking alcoholic. Neither were particular good models to base an opinion on house-elves but those that he had seen in the kitchens at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were not at all like Kreacher.

Harry felt sorry for the house-elf. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be living inside the same house for year after year, following the orders of his Mistress's portrait, slowly going mad from the loneliness and from having no family to serve. It wasn't Kreacher's fault that he was the way he was. Harry was reminded of something he had learnt at Primary School. Nature v. Nurture. Was Kreacher destined to be the way he was or was it the way that he was treated?

"GET OUT!" Sirius Black roared, lifting the house-elf up by his droopy ears, Kreacher's squeals of pain evident, before flinging him from the drawing room with such force that he connected with the opposite wall and Harry grimaced.

He felt a sharp intake of breath next to him and he turned, surprised, to see Hermione Grange standing there in her pyjamas, her bushy hair everywhere and a pained look on her face as she observed the scene down below. She looked as though she wanted to run down the stairs to help Kreacher, who was picking himself up off of the ground, bawling fat tears and rubbing his ears, all whilst cursing his Master with the most foul language Harry had ever heard. After Kreacher had stomped away and Sirius had slammed as many doors in the house as possible to vent his anger and frustration, Hermione looked to him, pale faced and tight lipped.

"Do you remember what Sirius said to us last year in the cave?" She asked him quietly and Harry crinkled his forehead in confusion. "If you want to know what a man is like, take a good like at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

The words hit Harry hard and he visibly flinched, knowing exactly what Hermione meant to get across to him. He turned away from her, angrily, looking back down to the now silent level. He was vaguely aware of his friend squeezing his elbow reassuringly before disappearing back up the stairs to her bedroom. He remembered hearing Sirius say that but he didn't want to put it in context of his Godfather, who was a good man.

Azkaban did untold things to people.

He shook his head, dislodging the disturbing thoughts that had erupted in his mind, pushing himself away from the banister, he moved back to his bedroom. Shaking his trousers off, he climbed back into his bed, placing his glasses carefully beside him on his bedside table, staring blindly up at the ceiling. Kreacher was a foul being who tormented Sirius with memories of his past. Sirius was a good man. He was sure of it. With that thought in his mind, he turned on his side to face the wall and fell into an uneasy sleep.

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_This is my response to the "Sirius" Challenge in The Sober Universe Forum, using the quote from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I wanted Harry to start to see Sirius with flaws as, at this stage, I believe that he still sees those adults in his life as perfect. He discovers that Dumbledore has flaws and I want this to be one of Sirius's._

_Hope you all enjoyed it and please review if you did (or didn't),_

_Best Wishes,_

_Kate_


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